Jaguar
by Mrs.Maelyn Cullen96
Summary: Ive never been normal. but it wasnt till now that i have realized just how unnormal i really am.
1. Chapter 1

Jaguar

I woke up and I was in a fog. Everything was hazy and confusing, and I couldn't remember how I got here. How long have I been trapped here? I was in a tiny capsule and my hands were restrained by metal, which was good because I was learning how to bend metal. I could taste blood in my mouth and I looked down to find my black tank top covered in a warm liquid. Also blood. My body was sore and I could see bruises on my arms. I closed my eyes, trying to remember how i got here, but i could only remember little flickers. Then it all started coming back to me.

I was at home with my parents, in my room practicing martial arts when I heard a crash and my mothers scream. I ran out of my room to find my mom and dad on the floor. Dead. I looked up with tears in my eyes to find a man about three times my size and dressed in black coming towards me. I instinctively took a defensive stance and did an air whip, which knocked him into the far wall. But he quickly got up and threw something at me. It was a piece of the wall. I crushed it with a giant piece of earth.

"What do you want?" I screamed at him.

He just chuckled and shook his head. My body was shaking with fear and rage as I drew some water from my water pouch. I could see that my chances were slim. He was going to kill me, but I wouldn't go down without a fight.

"Your bending will do nothing to me little girl" and he quickly lunged at me. I swiftly dodged it and lashed him with the water whip. This made him very angry. He flexed his huge muscles and punched me in the stomach before I could move. I fell to the ground, hunched over. He kicked me in the back and I screamed, hoping somebody, anybody, would hear me. He lifted me up by my shirt so that I was facing him. I spat in his face and lifted my chin. I would not give up.

"stupid girl, you can't beat me." his eyes were solid black, no emotion in them.

"I will kill you." I said sternly. Then he knocked me out.

That was the last thing I remember. Tears ran down my face when I remembered my parents face. Gone, they were all gone. anger raced through my veins and i knew I had to get out of here. Somehow they knew of my abilities, and I wasn't about to let them experiment with them. I quickly started to bend the metal around my hands. This was not an east task considering the fact that I just started practicing with metal. It took a few tries but I finally released my hands and my feet. Then I quickly kicked out the glass. An alarm started going off and I started running as fast as I could out of there. I kept running until I came across these... Things. They were huge and looked like monsters. Lucky for me, the ground was made of earth. I crushed the monster things with an earth column and ran on.

It seemed like there was no end to the halls. They just kept going and going, until finally I couldn't go anymore. I stopped and lifted up my tank top to find a bloody gash in my side. Then I heard some talking, I stopped my panting long enough to hear which direction it was coming from. I silently walked towards it, when I got to the doorway I peeked in to find a man and more of the monsters. The man was talking to someone but I didn't know who. Then i realized that this man was in the way of me and the exit. I looked around the room and found a large pool of water. I figured I could handle them so I silently ran into the room and used earth bending to crush them with a slight movement of my feet and hands. I could feel the vibrations in the ground and turned to see the man running towards me. I used the water from the pool to press him against the wall with ice. I closed my eyes for a fraction of a second to figure out if there was anyone else in the room. I could make out four different people and quickly turned and did the same to them as I did to the man. I opened my eyes and examined the victims. They were four boys about my age, they were all staring at me, eyes wide, but I could have sworn I have seen three of them somewhere before. Weren't they the Justice League sidekicks? What were they doing here? One of the boys was about 16, muscular and black with tattoos on his arms; another boy was about 15 with a yellow jumpsuit of and red hair, the other was very big and muscular with the Superman s on his shirt, and was trying to break the through the ice. The last boy looked 14, had black hair, a mask, and an R on his costume. I doubted they were the ones who trapped me here. For all I knew, they were trying to get me out.

The boy with the tattoos started to talk to me, his voice was calm and gentile. " I promise we are not going to hurt you, we are trying to escape, just like you are trying to do."

I nodded my head and released them. The boy with the S on his shirt looked at me with hatred in his eyes. Then the redhead ran up to me with blinding speed.

" That was so COOL! You were like, take this, and take this! By the way, Gorgeous, my name is Flash. KidFlash." he said with a wink. I paid no attention to that last comment.

" Are you the Justice League apprentices?" I asked in a soft voice. My side was really starting to bother me, I was clutching it tight but it wasn't helping. The boy in the black mask came up to me then.

" Yea, I'm Robin, this is Aqualad, you already met KidFlash." KidFlash winked at me again, he must be a creeper. "and this is Superboy." he gestured to Superboy who had his arms crossed and looking away from me.

" Its nice to meet you, my name is Mae," I said with the best smile I could manage and shook Robins hand. I had to admit, he was very cute.

"why are you here?" Aqualad asked in a serious tone. I clutched my side even harder as I thought of my parents.

" To be honest I have no idea," I told them the story of what I last remembered, I couldn't hold back the tears or anger long.

Robin took my hand, "I'm sorry," I could tell that he meant it. They all had frowns on their face. That's when I felt the monsters coming, I swiftly turned my head to the door. there were a lot of them.

" we have to hurry, the monsters things are coming back." I blocked of the door with a giant piece of earth. We all headed to the other door.

"were still 42 levels underground." Aqualad said. We went around the corner and there were even more monsters. Superboy started charging towards the monsters and tore them apart. I decided to do the same. I ran and did and air kick to one of the monsters chest, sending him flying backwards. Then I used earth bending to destroy about 4 or 5 at a time, and I sliced their heads off with the water slice, along with sending fire streams at them. I looked around to see Aqualad also water bending, only he didn't use martial arts as I did, instead he had two silver remotes in his hand controlling the water.

"That's it Superboy! Knock down the pillars!" Robin said. I decided to help and knocked down two them. Then everything started to fall and I was knocked to the ground. We waited there for a while, but i couldn't move because someone was on top of me.

After all the debris stopped falling, I discovered that it was Robin who knocked me over.

"thank you" I panted and smiled at him. He smiled back.

"Anytime," he said. The boys were giving each other high fives and congratulating each other. I started to walk away from the rocks and debris, and looked down at my side. It was bleeding even more and I was starting to get lightheaded. I finally fell to my knees, then felt the cool concrete on my cheek.

"Mae!" was the last thing I heard.

I woke up to a bright white light. I looked down at my side, it was covered in a white fabric. I looked around the room. It was solid white with no windows, only the small cot i was in and a table beside the it. I slowly got out of the cot walked to the door. I pushed it open and walked to what seemed to be the living area. KidFlash and Robin were on the couch, they looked up and smiled. KidFlash was by my side instantly.

"Hello, Gorgeous," he said. I scowled at him.

"Can you stop calling me that?" I said. Robin laughed and KidFlash had a disappointing look on his face.

"where am I?" I asked

" your in Mount Justice. This is the headquarters for our new team." Robin said. that would explain no windows, I was in a hollowed out mountain. Robin noticed me touching the wound in my torso.

"Don't worry about your side, Batman fixed you up pretty good. He said you lost a lot of blood though, have bruises covering your body, and have a minor concussion, but would be fine in a couple of days." robin said.

I walked to the couch and sat down, then I heard someone walk in and I looked up to see who it was. It was a girl, and she was green. She looked about 15, but there was something about her face that seemed innocent.

" M'gan, this is Mae. Mae, this is M'gan." KidFlash said. M'gan walked towards me slowly, as if not to startle me.

"it's nice to finally meet you Mae, Robin hasn't stopped talking about you since I got here." she laughed and we all looked at Robin, who was blushing.

"it's nice to meet you too," We both smiled at each other.

" How long have I been out?" I got up from the couch, clutching at my side as it stung. I really needed to heal it, if only I had some water.

"About three days, Bats needed to keep you stable because of the concussion. I thought you were never going to wake up," Robin walked towards me when I suddenly tripped. I put my arms out to catch my fall, but I didn't hit the ground. I opened my eyes to find myself staring into the most stunning set of blue eyes I have ever seen. I laughed nervously as I realized that it was Robin who caught me.

" I hope were not going to make this a habit," I said in a low voice. I heard KidFlash scoff behind me, Robin just smiled.

"I wouldn't mind if we did," he said in an even lower voice. He sat me up straight and I looked away nervously. The room was very big and spacy, I could see the kitchen from where I was standing. That would be a good place to find water I decided. I waked towards the kitchen and everyone followed. I got to the sink and turned on the water, I lifted my shirt and took off the bandage. It was still bloody.

" What are you doing." Surprised to hear Superboy's deep voice, I turned to find him and Aqualad walking into the room.

"Want to see something cool?" I got some water from the faucet and begun to make it spiral and glow in the palm of my hand. I placed my hand to my side and begun to heal it. It instantly felt better.

"That was so COOL!" KidFlash said, waving his hands above his head in excitement.

"Indeed, how did you do that?" Aqualad asked in confusion.

"I use my water bending as a healing property. I couldn't heal myself in the cave was because there was no water, with the exception of the pool of water where I found you, and there wasn't enough time to heal myself then." I leaned against the counter, satisfied with myself. They all looked at each other. Something stared to move and someone said " recognized: Batman 02. It sounded like a machine.

"Batman is going to want to talk to you." Robin said. " Don't worry, he's not so bad once you get to know him." he took my hand and lead me into the next room.

"Where is the girl?" Batman said in a deep voice. I stepped forward so he could see me. I felt so small next to his giant form. Batman looked at me and said "Follow me."

He turned and walked down the hall, and lead me into a small room. He then looked at the others.

"Only Robin," he said. I felt relieved as Robin came in and stood behind me. Batman closed the door and turned to me.

"what are your powers?" he demanded. I could feel Robin tension behind me. I took a deep breath.

"I am able to control the elements; water, earth, fire, and air. All of which I am a master of." I said. "I use a different form of martial arts for each element. I can also use water bending for healing, which I did for the wound in my torso," I lifted my shirt to reveal the thin pink line from where the gash was. " and I can feel the vibrations in the earth, it's kind of like a sixth sense. I can tell which move they are about to make before they actually make it." I closed my eyes to make my point. I could tell that there were four people listening through the door. Batman studied me for about 5 minutes until finally speaking.

" I understand that your parents have passed and you have no place else to go." he said in a low voice, they must have told him my story while I was unconscience. I looked at the floor and nodded. "your powers would be extremely significant to the team, so I am giving you the option of joining." I looked up at him, puzzled. Me? On the team? "I will give you the night to think it over. Choose carefully." then he walked out the door and I was left alone with Robin.

"we could really use you," Robin said, I could feel him walk up next to me and took my hand as tears started to fall down my face. I placed my head on his shoulder as I sobbed quietly. His arms wrapped around my body in comfort. After the tears had finally dried, he lead me to my room.

" this is where you will be sleeping," Robin gestured to the room. It was small and had purple walls, a desk, a bed, vanity, and a bookshelf full of books. I looked at Robin, confused at how they knew what I liked.

"how did you..." I trailed off. He just shrugged.

"lucky guess," he said. i smiled and walked over and gave him a hug.

"Thank you, for everything," I whispered as he hugged me back. He was so warm. I felt so safe in his arms.

After a while he left me to think. I went over to the vanity to see if I looked halfway decent. I had straight dark chocolate brown hair that went halfway down my back, a heart shaped face, fair skin, bright green eyes, and was slender, yet muscular. I was defiantly a rock n' roll chick, so i liked to wear dark colors and makeup. My hair was an absolute mess so I combed it. I laid down on my bed and thought about what I should do. I knew that if I joined them I would have to let go of everyone I have ever loved, even him. I food not afford to live in my past. I closed my eyes as I thought of his face. This would be so hard on him, but it needed to be done. I just had to see him one more time, just to say goodbye. Tears started streaming down my face. I cried myself to sleep that night.

The next morning I emerged from my room and found everyone sitting on the couch. They all looked up.

"I've made my decision, and I want to join your team." Everyone smiled, except Superboy. M'gan started to clap and gave me a hug.

"it will be so nice to have a girl around!" she said with enthusiasm. I smiled and hugged her back.

I looked at Robin, who was looking at me, or rather staring, at me, and blushed. After M'gan stopped gushing over how much 'girl time' we can spend together, Robin came up to me.

"glad you decided to stay," he said and we both smiled.

"OK, enough jibber jabber, let's get down to business," KF said. I looked at him, surprised that he would say this. Robin just laughed.

"KidFlash is right, we need to go over everything with you." Aqualad said. I nodded for him to continue. " Red Tornado has volunteered to be our supervisor, he will be looking after us while we are on missions. Batman is in charge of deploying us on missions, and Black Canary will be our trainer. It has been decided that you will be her personal apprentice."

I smiled, this was going to be exciting, maybe I could get some more tips on my martial arts from this Black Canary woman.

"you also need to think of a name and an outfit," Robin said. Ah, I had been thinking about this.

"what about Jaguar? I think it fits perfectly," I said.

" your right, it does fit perfectly," KF said, then he did one of those cat growls, which was very creepy. robin laughed again and punched KF in the shoulder.

"I believe I should start training soon, shouldn't I?" I said, trying to get off subject.

"we all will. We each need training." Aqualad said, I heard Superboy scoff behind him. What was his deal?

A week had past and we were all getting along. I had been declared dead, along with my parents. KF was just as annoying and Superboy just as distant as always. M'gan was my best girlfriend, we spent time doing earth things; like decorating my room and doing our hair. she really seemed to enjoy it. Training was going great; i was learning a lot from Black Canary. She was teaching me new fighting skills which i could use with my bending, and was also teaching me how become invisible in the darkness. I was now even more fierce and lethal. I had could tell that she was proud of the progress I had made. But it was Robin who I sent the most of my time with, and I was beginning to... Feel something for him.

I was in my room working out, doing push-ups and pull-ups. I found a punching bag in the closet and used that until I worked up a good sweat. I heard a knock on the door.

"come in," I said as I kicked the bag. I turned to find Robin coming through the door.

"hey," he said.

"hey," I panted. I walked to the iPod and turned it down a little bit, then turned to him.

"I just came to tell you that we have training tomorrow," he said kind of awkwardly.

"is that all you came to tell me?" I asked, feeling that there was something more important he needed to say.

"Uh, yea, that's it. There is nothing else I need to tell you," Robin laughed nervously. He was such a bad liar, but I decided not to press the issue.

"well, ok then." I said. I turned the music up a little louder and returned to my punching bag.

"think you could take me on?" I stopped and looked at him to see if he was serious, he was. I smiled at him.

"I think I could manage." I said speculatively. Robin lead me to a large white room.

"I'll go easy on you the first time." He said and I laughed. That was so typical.

One thing about my style of martial arts was that it was seductive. Each movement has graceful and sexy, and I pride myself in this. He watched me, eyes wide and I distracted him long enough to knock him to the ground. I walked over to him and bent down to where my lips were at his hear.

"do you really think you need to go easy on me, Robin?" I whispered. He smiled and laughed. I picked him up with air bending, "Come on, hit me with your best shot," . I concentrated on the earth beneath my feet. I could feel that he was fixing to knock my knees out from under me so I quickly jumped and landed on the other side of him. Before he could turn I blasted him with air until he was on the other side of the room. I walked over to him to see if he was ok, which he was.

"is that really the best you got?" I taunted him. This was so much fun. I got in a defensive stance as he threw down a smoke bomb. He was gone when I cleared the smoke. I heard him laugh but I couldn't find him, so I closed my eyes to see if I could feel his vibrations. I had to admit, he was pretty badass. Then I found him in the dark corner of the room and I sent him flying into the air with earth bending. I got the water from my water pouch and caught him with it before he hit the ground. We fought like this for about half an hour. Once I would get leverage over him, he would then gain leverage over me, and visa versa.

"ok, ok, you win. For now," he said, and I just laughed. Then he walked up close enough to where I could see his stunning blue eyes again. My heart started beating faster as I realized how close his lips were, how close we were to touching. He realized the same thing as soon as I did. He started to lean in, but the first thing that popped into my mind was HIS face. I opened my eyes and backed away.

"I'm sorry," I whispered and ran to my room without looking back. I got to my room and closed the door. What was I doing? Why didn't I just lean in also? But I just couldn't let go of him. I decided to go see him tonight. If I ever wanted to be close to Robin, I needed to let go, completely.

I waited until everyone was asleep to sneak out. I was dressed in the new outfit that M'gan and I created; it was a solid black tunic with a jaguar on the belt, black leggings, black tape around my hands and feet, a leather jacket, and a black mask that covered my eyes, complete with back nail polish. I silently opened the door and crept into the living room. I got to the window and opened it. That's when I heard someone coming towards me, I turned to find Superboy.

"where do you think your going?" he asked with his arms across his massive chest.

"personal business." he looked at me suspiciously, then turned and went back to his room. I breathed a sigh of relief then crept out of the window. I got my new motorcycle out of the garage and headed to his house. When I finally got there I sneaked into his room. He looked so peaceful in his sleep. I walked up to him and lightly touched the scar on the side of his face. His hair had grown longer since I had seen him. Silent tears ran down my face as i realized this would be the last time i would ever see him. He started to awake then, and I went to the dark corner in his room so he wouldn't see me. He rose from his bead and looked around his room, startled.

"who's there?" he lit his palm with fire and I put it out with air bending. Why prolong the inevitable?

I stepped out into the moonlight and took off my mask. His eyes widened once he saw me.

"it can't be... your dead," he said in confusion. I stepped towards him, "Mae?" he reached out to touch my cheek. as if to make me more real. I places my hand on his, trying to savor it.

"hey, Zuko," I smiled at him.

"I thought I had lost you," pain lashed through my body like a whip. This would hurt him so much.

"I'm so sorry," I started to cry again. He looked at me, puzzled. "I can't see you anymore, Zuko. I just came to say goodbye." I couldn't look him the eye as I said this.

"but... Why? I don't understand..." He trailed off.

"I can't risk you getting hurt. Everyone needs to keep thinking that I'm dead. This," I gestured towards my body, " is who I am now. If anyone were to find out who I really am..." i paused, not sure how to say this."they can trace me back to you and I can't let that happen." I kissed him for the last time. "Goodbye," then I jumped out his window before he could say anything else. I got on my motorcycle and headed for the mountain. When I got there I silently slipped through the window, only find the entire team in the living room.

" where have you been," Aqualad asked. I looked at Superboy, how could he rat out on me?

"I'm sorry, Aqualad, I know I shouldn't have snuck out. I just... Needed to take care of some personal business." I looked at M'gan, hoping she would understand.

"go on, all of you," she shooed them away. Except for Robin. He stood so close to me, but I wanted to be closer. I felt so safe in his arms, like nothing could be wrong in the world. He placed his hand on my cheek, the same place Zuko put his. He leaned in, brushing his lips against mine. They were so soft and warm. He wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him, while my hands went to his hair. I knew this is where I belonged. I finally leaned away to get air.

"Robin," I breathed. I opened my eyes to find myself staring into pools of blue.

"you don't know how long I've been wanting to do that," he smiled triumphantly.

All of a sudden a siren went off, telling us to go to the commission area. Robin took my hand and we ran there. When everyone got there Batman appeared on the giant screen above us.

"there have been robberies and murders on the lower east side of manhattan. Their in an abandoned wear house, fixing to send everything to a different location. Your job is to stop the trucks before they leave the building. Good luck."

"Coordinates received," Aqalad said. We all raced to Miss M's ship and headed to Manhattan.

When we got there it was snowing and the moon was out, which was perfect for water bending. We walked out of the ship and looked around.

"let's go," Aqualad said. we walked into the building that was in front of us. Inside, it was dark and empty, with the exception of a few crates stacked in the corner. I closed my eyes and put my hand on the ground using my seismic sense to see if anyone was around. There was a woman on one side of the building and a man on the other, they were both packing the crates into trucks.

"there's a man and a woman on opposite ends of the building," I whispered. " we need to split up, Aqualad and Superboy, go find the man, he's packing crates in the southern end. KF and M, find the trucks and do not let them leave. Robin, your with me." I looked at Robin who nodded back. Then we ran in opposite directions. I got some snow, quickly melted it and put it in my water pouch, ready to attack. When we got there the woman turned to us in surprise.

"Well, isn't it the Boy Wonder and his little kitten." she said in a mocking tone. Robin lunged at her, while I sent rocks flying at her. He threw his disk things at her but she jumped out of the way. I sent ice spikes towards her which pinned her against the wall.

"what was that about little kitten?" I said. This chick was seriously messed up. She jumped up and away from us. I could feel her land behind me and swiftly dodged her punch, which I counter attacked by kicking her in the torso, which sent her flying backwards.

"little pest." she sneered. She jumped into the darkness, and I couldn't see or feel her anymore. I looked at Robin, who was looking into the dark. She then jumped out and landed next to Robin, and he narrowly missed her punch. He knocked out her legs, but she was quickly back on her feet.

"I have to admit, Im disappointed that Batman isn't here. Instead I get stuck with his sidekick." she threw a blow to his shoulder, which knocked him to the ground.

"Robin!" I yelled. That was the last straw. I got more snow from outside, melted it, and sent the giant wave towards her. I then blasted her with air and she went flying into the far wall, which I froze her to. I ran to Robin who was getting up from the ground.

"Are you ok?" he looked ok, just a little frazzled.

"never better," he said. I helped him up, and we both turned to face the woman. She was struggling to get out of the ice, which was a failed attempt.

"So what do we do about her?" I asked.

"Aqualad. We have the woman, how's it going on the other end of the building?" Robin said into his earpiece thing. Aqualad responded and Robin shook his head in acknowledgement. "Their on their way, Death Adder escaped," he turned to me

"Then I guess it's time for me to make my escape," the woman said. Before I could react there was smoke everywhere, and heard a smashing sound. I could feel her running towards the door and blocked the door with earth and cleared the smoke, but she was already gone.

"Shit." I said, and suddenly KF was buy my side.

"Where is she?" he said and looked at Robin.

"Damn it! I had her! How the hell did she escape?" I stammered. They looked at me in confusion. "What?" Why were they staring at me like that?

"Er, your language," KF said.

"What, never heard a curse word before?" I didn't mean for my voice to be so sharp, I was just pissed off. They didn't say anything, "Sorry, i didn't realize this was a PG rated team," I said sarcastically. Robin smiled at me and KF crossed his arms.

Superboy, Aqualad, and M'gan came rushing in at the same time.


	2. Chapter 2

"So your Black Canary's protege? What are your powers?" Beast Boy said enthusiastically.

"Yes, what are your powers, Jaguar?" Starfire said stiffly, I smiled.

"Follow me," I lead them out the door until we were by the ocean. "Robin?" he smiled and stepped in front of me.

"Ready for round two, huh?" he said. I smiled at him and closed my eyes. I had learned a trick or two while I was gone. I moved a piece of earth to where he had to step closer to me.

"Oh, I was born ready. And don't even think about going easy in me." I said.

"Wouldn't dream of it." he tried to grab my torso but I neatly dodged it. I counter attacked with an air kick, and he flew to the other side of the island. He quickly got up and did some acrobatic thing to where he was in front of me. I raises my eyebrow and got water from the ocean and blasted him with it, then I froze the water. To my surprise he broke through the ice.

"Looks like my little Robin got some muscle. Even Superboy has a hard time breaking through it." I said, he laughed my favorite laugh and tried to knock out my knees, but I was too fast, I was on the other side of him in milliseconds. I kissed his neck, which distracted him long enough for me to knock out his knees. I pinned his arms and legs to the ground with earth. "Beat ya again," I laughed. I looked over at the others, their mouthed were all hanging open. I released Robin and helped him up.

"Cheater," he said playfully, i raised my eyebrow. "Its not fair when you seduce me like that." I laughed at him.

"Thats the name of the game, Babe." he wrapped his arm around my waist and we walked towards the others.

"You. Beat. Robin. No one has ever done that before!" Beast Boy said. "I think were going to get along just fine." He crossed his arms and gave me a weird smile. I laughed hesitantly, knowing I wouldn't be able to stay long.

"I've never seen you this... relaxed before, Rob. Was he always like this?" Cyborg said. I looked down, not wanting to remember what had happened to him while I was gone. Robin pulled me closer.

"It was different then," I said softly. "He wasn't the leader of the team, and we were still kids." I looked up at Robin.

"And I still had you." he said. I looked up at him and my heart broke. I couldn't bear to think how much pain I had caused him.

"But to answer your question, yes he was always like this. Superboy and Aqualad were the serious ones of the group. Kidflash and Robin were... not so serious." I laughed at the memories of them goofing off.

"They weren't feeling the aster." Robin smiled at me and he intertwined his fingers with mine. We walked back to the tower, and Cyborg and Beast Boy immediately started playing video games.

"Guess you have to be the serious one," I said and he smiled a little bit, but it didn't reach his eyes. I wondered if he regretted leaving Young Justice, if he missed everyone as much as I did. Which reminded me; I needed to talk to him about some things.

"Can I talk to you for a minute, alone?" He looked at me in confusion but eventually mustered a "Yea," and lead me into his room. I could feel him trace my figure with his fingers, trying to memorize me as if this were our last day together, and I suddenly wanted to be as close as possible. I lifted my eyes to find him staring intently at me. my hand touched his face softly and he kissed my palm. "Robin," I breathed and he hushed me with his lips. His hands went to my waist and he lifted me up onto his hips, my heartbeat was pounding in my ears. My skin burned where his hands touched, which was everywhere. He slowly lowered me onto his soft bed and took off my mask. He smiled and touched my lips with his fingertips. I reached up and took off his mask in return. He lowered his head and touched his lips to mine, passion and need breaking through his careful composure. I could taste his sweet scent on my tongue. He took off the jacket I was wearing and kissed down my neck, letting me breathe. I sighed and brought is mouth back to mine. God, how I wanted more, but a voice in the back of my mind was screaming at me to stop. I finally broke the kiss. "No, stop. We can't do this." he looked at me in confusion. I got up from the bed, crossed my arms and didn't speak for a few moments.

"Do you even miss them?" I whispered. I heard him shift his weight. I turned to find him looking at the ground.

"Of course I do," there was a trace of pain in his voice, which hurt me.

"Then why did you leave?" I needed to know the real reason he left when they needed him. I got aggravated when he didn't say anything. "What about Wally? He's your best friend, and you just quit on him! I know you missed me, and were having a hard time dealing with things, but you turned your back on them!" By the time I finished, I was yelling.

"You don't understand," he said quietly. That hit a nerve.

"Then please, enlighten me Mr. Grayson!" I was nearly screaming at him by now. I told myself to calm down, but it seemed impossible.

"They all forgot about you! They acted like nothing happened! And when I would even try and mention it to Bruce, he would tell me to forget. How could I forget about you! You're the best damned thing that has ever happened to me and he wanted me to forget you! Every time I would close my eyes I would see your face! Every night I would have the same goddamn nightmare! I couldn't forget the fact that I _let _you die. My heart couldn't let me forget that you died in my arms. Bruce is a cold and emotionless monster and I want nothing to do with him!" he was also yelling. I could feel the tears fixing to spill over and my voice was hoarse when I spoke.

"Which is what you were becoming," he looked up, his eyes were fierce. "when I would... check-up on you, you were a completely different person than the one I had known, now bitter and cruel. You were so intent on catching this Slade lost sight of yourself, of what matters. Batman didn't want you to forget me; he just didn't want you to live in the past." I touched his cheek, tears running down my face. "And I didn't want that either. How could I? Seeing you in that kind of pain killed me."

"They all forgot you," he repeated again, this time softly.

"They just moved on with their lives. They don't love me like you do, Robin." he pressed his forehead against mine. "Will you come back with me? At least make amends with them, set things straight." he nodded.

"You have to stay with them, don't you?" his voice was so soft, like a child's.

"I have to, there isn't any other way. But we'll figure out something, I promise." After dinner, everyone departed to their rooms. I walked over to the huge glass window that covered the entire side if the eastern tower, the moon was full and I could feel the energy coursing through my veins. Water bending had always been my specialty; I always felt a strong connection with the moon and water spirits. I looked down to see the ocean, now like black ink in the moonlight. As the waves crashed over the rocky cliffs, I was reminded if an old Chinese proverb; Twi and la, push and pull, life and death, yin and yang.

At that moment, Robin wrapped his arms around my waist. "Hello, my love," he whispered in my ear.

"Ciao amore mio, ti ho perso," I said and he chuckled.

"You know I don't speak Italian," I turned and kissed his cheek.

"Hello my love, i have missed you," his eyes softened as I said this.

"I could have guessed that."

"Im sure you could," I smiled and turned back to the water, enjoying the warmth of his arms.

"Come down to the ocean with me," he took my hand and we walked down to the sand. There was a warm breeze outside, and the stars were out. I loved the way the sand felt on me feet. Robin and I were both out of our costumes, which apparently was not natural, but we still had our masks on. I took a deep breath, taking in the salty sea air. I walked up to the water, to where the waves were just barley crashing over my feet. I looked at Robin, who was watching me, and splashed water on him. I laughed and ran away when he started to chase me. He finally caught me and we fell to the ground, laughing at our childishness. God, this was so cliche. I rolled on top of him, pinning him to the ground, and kissed his lips.


End file.
